[Press Release] The United Nations’ General Assembly Adopted a Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on Executions for the Second Time. The abolitionist front gets stronger and stronger

The United Nations’ General Assembly Adopted a Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on Executions for the Second Time.
The abolitionist front gets stronger and stronger

18.12.2008

World Coalition Against the Death Penalty Press Release

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty welcomes the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a second resolution calling for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

Supported by an increasing number of co-sponsor countries (89), it reaffirms the resolution 62/149 of 18 December 2007, “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty”, and recognizes “the global trend towards the abolition of the death penalty”. A slight change can be seen in the Arab World. If Algeria voted in favour of the resolution for the second time, seven other Arab countries abstained in 2008 whereas four of them voted No last year. (Bahrain, Jordan, Mauritania and Oman)

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty congratulates the governments for the increasing votes in favour of the resolution: it was supported by 106 (+2) countries The World Coalition regrets that 46 (-8) voted against the Resolution and that 34 (+5) abstained. Chad, RDC, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Seychelles and Tunisia were absent.

The text of the resolution 63/430 welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolution 62/149 “and the conclusions and recommendations contained therein”. The Secretary-General is requested to provide a report every two years on this issue, notably based on the information produced by Member States.

The next resolution will be put for consideration to the United Nations General Assembly in December 2010. In February 2010, the fourth World Congress against the Death Penalty, organized by “Ensemble contre la peine de mort” (ECPM) in cooperation with the World Coalition will take place in Geneva and address the International Organisations. It will be an occasion to monitor the implementation of Resolution 63/430 calling for a moratorium on executions and it will gather abolitionists involved for worldwide abolition of the death penalty from all over the world.